Evonik Industries last Thursday inaugurated its significantly expanded Jurong Island oil additives plant in Singapore after two years of engineering, planning and construction. The capacity of the plant has nearly doubled, making it the largest oil additives production site within Evonik's global production network. Additional plants are located in the U.S., Canada, France, and Germany.

Plans to expand the Jurong Island plant, which currently produces 40 per cent of Evonik's global product portfolio, were first announced in August 2013 to cater to a growing demand in Asia-Pacific for more advanced lubricants. Evonik began operating the oil additives plant in Singapore in 2008.

"The expanding mobility in Asia, a stronger focus on resource efficiency and higher fuel economy, as well as tighter emission limits are spurring growth in demand for high-performance lubricants," outlined Dr. Johannes Ohmer, member of the Management Board of the Resource Efficiency Segment. "With this additional capacity, we are addressing our customers' growing demand for more, and more advanced lubricants."

"We have been constantly enhancing our capabilities in the attractive Asian growth market and developing our regional team," explained Wei Kiat Tan, Evonik's Oil Additives Regional Manager for Asia. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Evonik also operates technology centers in Shanghai, China and Tsukuba, Japan.

For Evonik, the factors that weighed heavily in favor of expansion in Singapore included: excellent supply chain logistics; existing infrastructure; strong IP protection; and a skilled workforce; as well as local support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

The latest investment is part of Evonik's 5.5 billion euro (US$6.2 billion, Singapore $8.2 billion) investment programme on which it embarked in 2012. In a media briefing on Thursday, Evonik chief operating officer Patrik Wohlhauser said that about two-thirds of the total amount has been earmarked for growth businesses, especially in growth regions such as Asia-Pacific. Of the 3.3 billion euros that Evonik has invested around the world in the last three years, almost one-third - or more than 1.1 billion euros - were invested in Asia-Pacific, he added.

As a leading provider of oil additives, Evonik develops technologies to improve fuel and energy efficiency as well as productivity with DRIVON™ and NUFLUX™ technologies in engine oils, driveline fluids and gear oils. Industrial and off-highway equipment achieve fuel and energy savings with DYNAVIS® technology for hydraulic fluids. Other specialty products of the Evonik Oil Additives Business Line include high-performance additives and technologies for fuels and refinery products.

Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2014 more than 33,000 employees generated sales of around €12.9 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about €1.9 billion.